Chapter 479: Striking Hard
The next morning, Marat straightened his clothes, entered the room at Eymard's signal, and bowed to the Prince seated at the desk. He succinctly said, "Your Highness, I'm here."
Joseph stood up with a smile. "I'm glad to see you, Mr. Marat."
"Is there something you need me to do?"
Joseph was accustomed to Marat's curt attitude toward the royal family and motioned for him to sit on the sofa. He nodded, "Indeed, there are some matters that require your attention."
He sat across from Marat and handed him a list. "These officials may be involved in corruption. I need you to investigate them."
The list contained the names of the more than 40 officials who had previously opposed the abolition of the tax farming system.
The bureaucracy was supposed to be the royal tool for governing the country, but some of these individuals dared to openly defy the crown. Joseph had decided it was time to strike hard and put these people back in their place.
And to deal with bureaucrats, the Public Integrity Investigation Bureau was the best tool at his disposal.
Marat glanced over the list, then looked at Joseph and asked, "Your Highness, do you have evidence of their corruption?"
"Not yet."
"Then, have they been reported by anyone?"
"No."
Marat set the list down and frowned, his expression stern. "Your Highness, then I must refuse your request. The Public Integrity Bureau exists to supervise officials' conduct and protect the rights of the people, not to be used as a tool for your political objectives!"
Joseph felt a wave of frustration. Marat and his team were certainly diligent and unafraid of the powerful, and they were highly capable. But they were also incredibly stubborn, refusing even to bend for him. Still, this was a necessary quality for an anti-corruption agency.
Joseph was quite certain that the officials on the list had all taken money to oppose the tax reform, but he could only respond, "Mr. Marat, I'm simply asking you to begin an investigation. If they're innocent, then nothing will happen to them."
He thought to himself that, given the current state of French bureaucracy, he could convict almost anyone of corruption without even investigating.
Marat frowned again, clearly uneasy about the task, but finally lowered his head and said, "Alright, Your Highness, I'll have my team look into it. Is there anything else?"
"No, that's all."
Marat took the list, bowed to Joseph, and left the room, muttering under his breath, "What a waste of the Bureau's time and energy..."
Not long after Marat left, Brienne hurried in, carrying a stack of letters, and handed them to Joseph, saying anxiously, "Your Highness, these are letters of protest that arrived just yesterday. All from officials across the country, opposing the tax reform."
Joseph glanced at the letters—there were at least 20 of them—and his brow furrowed.
Brienne knew how determined the Prince was to abolish the tax farming system, so his expression was grave as he said, "Your Highness, there are likely even more letters on their way to Versailles. With so much opposition, it might be wise to slow down the reform process…"
Joseph knew he was right. With nearly every corner of the country's bureaucracy opposing the tax reform, pushing ahead against such widespread resistance would likely provoke a backlash from the entire bureaucratic class.
He took a deep breath, surprised at the sheer power of the tax farmers' group, which had managed to mobilize so many officials to their cause.
But the stronger the opposition, the more determined he was to eradicate this corrupt system.
The immediate priority was to stop the momentum of opposition from the bureaucrats. The more officials who joined the opposition, the harder it would be to push through the reform.
Originally, he had planned to have Marat deal with the first batch of officials who opposed the reform. Once they were "handled," others would likely be too scared to take money from the tax farmers' group to voice opposition.
But there would be a delay. If the officials' letters of protest reached Versailles, it would mean they couldn't back down—they would have to continue opposing the reform.
Of course, in a worst-case scenario, he could simply dismiss a large number of officials and forcibly abolish the tax farming system. But that would cause tremendous political upheaval and might lead to a situation where the royal family was pitted against the entire bureaucracy—something Joseph wanted to avoid.
Joseph glanced at the letters in his hand and had a sudden idea.
These letters of protest were the officials' declarations of opposition to the tax reform.
In other words, without these letters, the officials would still be considered neutral. If they sensed a shift in the situation, they could quickly realign with the royal family.
He immediately turned to Eymard and said, "Please summon Viscount Aruet, the Postmaster General, and Mr. Fouché. Oh, and also the head of the Intelligence Bureau's 'Black Room' department…"
"The 'Black Room'?" Eymard asked.
"Yes, the department responsible for monitoring mail," Joseph confirmed.
"That would be Jean Randollet, Your Highness."
"Yes, that's the one. Have him come as well."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Two hours later, the Postmaster General and two high-ranking officials from the Intelligence Bureau arrived at Versailles.
After they had paid their respects, Joseph immediately instructed Viscount Aruet, "I need you to arrange for the postal system to experience some 'accidents'—enough to cause a partial collapse of the system."
"Don't worry about facing any penalties. Afterward, I'll have you transferred to another department with a higher position."
Aruet was someone Joseph had personally promoted from the lower ranks, so his loyalty was unquestionable.
Aruet's eyes widened in surprise, but he still responded, "Yes, Your Highness. However…"
He didn't get to finish his question before Joseph turned to Fouché and said, "Have the 'Black Room' intercept and inspect all letters sent by officials to Versailles recently. Any that mention tax reform should be 'held up' by the postal service or sent back to the original sender."
Fouché and Jean Randollet exchanged glances, then both bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness."
...
That evening, a minor fire broke out at the Paris post office's main building.
The fire was quickly brought under control, damaging only two offices and a warehouse on the third floor, with no casualties. However, some letters were destroyed in the flames.
As the news spread, the two main managers of the post office began blaming each other, refusing to take responsibility and escalating their dispute to the Chief Minister, Brienne.
Soon after, Postmaster General Aruet went on sick leave, and the postal system's officials split into two factions, each supporting one of the two managers.
For a time, the postal system was embroiled in internal conflict, with no one paying attention to the day-to-day mail operations. Many letters were either delayed or returned to their senders.
However, anyone observing closely within the postal system would notice that ordinary mail was still being delivered relatively normally, while official correspondence was most affected.
(End of Chapter)
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